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NITED STATES PATENT Unteren.

ESSINGTON N. GILFILLAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGN OR TO THE JOHNSTON CAR SEAT COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CAR-SEAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 448,424, dated March 17, 1891. Application led January 31, 1890. Serial No. 338,816. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EssINGToN N. GILFIL- LAN, a vcitizen of the United States, an d a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Seats, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in car-seats in which the back is reversible with relation to the seat, so as to change the facing direction of the seat, and isA also capable of being reclined in either direction; but it is more especially designed as an improvement upon the invention set forth in my application for Letters Patent of the Unit-ed States, Serial N o. 284,420, tiled September 8, 1888. In my said application the locking -levers were formed on the arc of a circle and provided with a series of notches for engaging a proj ection on the supporting-bars for the back, the levers at the opposite ends of the seat being independently pivoted and detached from each other, but so connected that the operation of either one of the levers at one end of the seat causes a simultaneous operation ot' the corresponding lever on the same side, but at the opposite end of the seat, thus enabling a simultaneous operation of the locking devices for the supporting-bars at each end of the seat from one end thereof.

The prime object of this invention is to simplify the construction and cheapen the cost of manufacture of such seats by dispensing with a number of parts heretofore employed.

Another object is to have a lock device for each of the supporting-bars of the chair-back at each end of the seat rigidly connected together and capable of simultaneous operation from one end of the seat for securingthe back in either an upright or inclined position.

These objects are attained by the devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a central vertical section through a car-seat embodying my invention, showing the back in elevation and with the seat removed; and Fig. 2, a horizontal section on the line 2 2 ot' Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference `indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawings.

Referring by letter to the accompanying drawings, A indicates the frame of the seat; B, the side arms thereof; C, the back, and D the side supporting-bars for the back, pivotally secured to the seat-frame at about the center of width thereof, so that the back maybe swung thereby from one side of the seat to the other, aocordin g to the direction in which the seat is facing. These su pporting-bars are held in their upright and inclined positions by means of adjustable stops E in the form of double-crank arms located one at each end of a longitudinal shaft F, journaled in suitable brackets secured o the ends of the seat-frame. There are two of these shafts and two sets of crank-arms, one at each side of the seat-- frame, constituting stops for the supportingbars in each direction, and one of the arms of each set, preferably the one at the right with relation to the facing direction of the seat, is formed into a handle G, so that both of the crank-arms of each set may be simultaneously operated from one side of the seat. As shown in the drawings, these crank-arms are provided with shoulders H at their ends, against which the edge of the side bars rests when the back is in its normal upright position, the arrangement between the axes or pivots of the supporting-arms being such that the strain upon the arms at this time is directly through their length and against the pivots; but when the back is reclined, as shown bythe dotted lines at the right in Fig. 1, the shoulders on the arms engage corresponding notchesin the edges of the supporting-bars. These supporting-bars preferably extend a slight distance below their pivots, which extended portions are connected with the floor of the car or a stationary portion of the chair-frame by means of a coiled spring J, which acts to return the back to its normal upright position when relieved of the weight of the occupant, the crank-arms or stops at the same time falling back to their normal position either under the influence of gravity alone or gravity assisted by the springs K, having its ends secured, respectively, to the shaft F and the seat-frame.

The back C, which is pivoted at or slightly above its center of height to the supportingbars, is provided below the pivoting-point with a pair of laterally-projecting stop-lugs L ICO lying one on each side of the supporting-bars and one acting` as a stop for limiting the out- Ward movement of the lower edge of the back in one direction, While the other one performs a similar office when the seat is facing in the opposite direction.

A car-seat made in accordance with my invention is both durable and economical in construction and possesses all the advantages common to the seat described and claimed in the before-mentioned application.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. In a-car-seat, the combination, with the back and the pivoted supportin g-bars thereof, of an actuating-shaft journaled in the seat-- frame and carrying at each end thereof crankarms to engage and act as stops for the supporting-bars, substantially as described.

2. In a car-seat, the combination, with the back and the supporting-bars thereof pivoted to the seat-frame at its center of width, of a pair of actuating-shafts jou rnaled in the seatframe, one on either side of the center of said frame, and carrying at each end thereof crankarms which alternately engage and act as stops for the supporting-bars, substantially as described. y

3. In a car-seat, the combination, with the back and the supporting-bars thereof, of a pair of actuating-shafts journaled in the seatframe, one at each side of the center of said frame and carrying` at each end thereof crankarms, each of which arms is provided with a shoulder against which the supporting-bars bear, one of the crank-arms on each of said shafts terminating in a handle for simultaneously manipulating.` both crank-arms of the shaft, substantially as described.

4. In a car-seat, the combination, with the` back, the pivoted supporting-bars thereof, and a spring for normally maintaining said bars in an upright position, of a spring-actuated shaft journaled in the seat-frame and carrying crank-arms at each end thereof, respectively engaging said supporting-bars, one of said crank-arms terminatingin a handle, substantially as described.

5. In a car-seat, the combinntion, With the back, the pivoted su pportinabars thereof, and a spring for normally maintaining said bars in an upright position, of spring-actuated shafts journaled in the seat-frame and carrying crank-arms at each end thereof, respectively engaging said supporting-bars, one

crank-arm on each shaft terminating in a handie, substantiallyas described.

ESSINGTON N. GILFILLAN. Witnesses:

' R. C. OMoHUNDRo,

XV. R. OMOHUNDR'O. 

